Mellon MS 29
ELIAS CORTONENSIS, O.F.M.
Lumen luminum in Latin, with Italian prologue, and other matter
North Italy (Venice?), unsigned, about 1525
Paper codex in Italian and Latin, 4to., 190 x 132, ff. 33 of probably 40
originally, the extant leaves numbered by an old hand 1-25, 27-30, 32-33,
36-37 (f. 26, 31, 34, 35, and 38-40, now missing, the last three possibly
blanks); written throughout in red and black in an italic hand with
considerable abbreviation and partly in cipher, single column 135 x 93, 20
lines without bordering lines or ruling; no signatures, a single catchword at
the end of the first quire. Collation: (1-3)^^8, (4)^^8-2, (5)^^8-5.
Watermark: a circle containing an unidentified design element, with a
six-pointed star on a shaft above, not identified.
BINDING: Original North Italian binding of dark leather, the sides ruled with
triple bordering lines to form a rectangle within a rectangle, the smaller
rectangle with a roll tool of vinelike foliage impressed in blind, a smaller
interior rectangle formed by the panel of roll tooling with gold- stamped ivy
leaves at the corners and a circular stamp incorporating the "yhs" monogram
in the center framed by a lozenge of tooling with the same roll already
mentioned; back with five raised bands; modern gold-stamped title label
pasted onto second compartment from top. Backstrip and corners extensively
repaired; gilt edges stamped with a herringbone knotwork pattern.
PROVENANCE: Without any indication of original ownership; note at top of f.
1r dated 17 February 1593, but without name; ownership (?) note of Joannes
Grilius written upside down at foot off 37v in an eighteenth-century Italian
hand; pencil note on the lower pastedown, "Acquisto | 1926 | fondo de Marinis
[?] 606"; in pencil in another hand in the same location, "Vendita | £
20000" (lire italiane); pencil note on upper pastedown, "£ 30" (English
pounds sterling) and the letters "PP."; Denis Duveen, with his inked number
63; Mellon MS 26, acquired with the Duveen collection. De Ricci-Bond 7 (26).
CONTENTS
First pastedown: [Notes in Italian and Latin, partly in cipher, mostly in
Italian late sixteenth- century cursive by at least three hands, covering the
page, including mention at top of Basilius Valentinus in a later hand; the
subject matter covers a preparation of silver, and the explanation of secret
names of the signs of the Zodiac copied from the text on f. 2v.]
f. 1r: [In the top margin in a late sixteenth-century Italian cursive:]
Mercore [?] i593 adi i7 frever [sic] a H[ora?] 24 ... [The note continues in
a highly abbreviated form, not read; to the right written in red chalk in a
large scrawl is "125 m"; other scrawls in red chalk occur on f. 37v, as noted
below.]
f. 1r, 1: [Written as heading:] In nomine sancte et Indiuidue trinitatis |
[after one-line space:] Inel principio meco et fine del mio tractato | sia
presente lagratia del omnipotente Idio:- | et dela gloriosa uergene Maria et
de tuta la | corte del cielo Amen | Questo picol libro e experimentado nel
i3i5 - | Adi 16 del mese de marco: et e preciosa: | sopra ogni sorte dele
scientie del mondo et e | thesoro de tute le arte: et tuto el beneficio |
delarte e in due spetie cioe de medicina [.] Et | una serue al sole laltra
ala Luna. Et de | queste cosse ho nascoso [sic] el nome suo in due fi- | gure
che sono queste. videlicit | [After one-line space a large, eight-pointed,
asterisklike symbol is given for the sun, and another, combining a reversed
uppercase "C" and a lowercase "p," is given for the moon; the text continues,
partly rewritten by a later hand where the text had faded due to water
stains, line 18:] Cinque corpi fano el sole et la luna cioe sa= | turno,
Ioue, Marte Venere e Mercurio | ... [The text continues, partly in cipher on
ff. 1v-2r, where alchemical operations are described; on f. 2v is an
explanation of the ciphers for the signs of the Zodiac, which may be seen in
the facsimile provided; ends f. 2v, 12; remainder of the page blank.]
f. 3r, 1: [Written as heading:] Liber alkimistalis: quem frater Elia Edidit |
apud Imperatorem federicum:-:-:- | Incipit liber lumen luminum traslatus de
sa- | rracenico ac hebraico in Latinum: Afratre e- | lia generali minorum
super Alkimici:-:-:- | Incipit liber qui Lumen Luminum dicitur ex | libris
medicorum et experimentis philosophorum | collectus: In quo Lapidum
preciosorum e discipli- | narum extranearum ac experimentorum facilium, nec |
non rerum collectarum et scientiarum mirabilium | Quibus nobilis atque
prudens mcdicus seu alki- | mista indiget, habetur noticia... [line 16:] ...
De sale armoniaco | Primum quod in eo explicatur: est. sal. armoniacus quod
du- | pliciter inuenitur. Albus Videlicet et rubeus | ... [The text
continues, describing the nature and properties of borax, alumina, "draganti"
(the different types of tragacanth), mercury, and various minerals and
metals; on f. 9v are procedures for making minium (red) and azurite (blue)
pigments; beginning on f. 10r are described alchemical operations for
treating metals in certain ways and for transmutation; Book | closes on f.
15r; Book II begins on f. 15v, 2:] Quicumque hes [sic] in argentum
transmutare cupit ... [Ends f. 16v, 5, at which point the following passage
occurs:] ... Incipit Liber Tertius Transla- | tus atque Compositus: Afratre.
Elya: | Cum enim Rogil uoluit edificare palacium et non | sufficiebat. sibi
uenire fecit ... [This section ends f. 17v, followed by various processes for
making gold; Book III closes on f. 21v, followed by a prologue to Book IV and
various short sections with headings, the first numbered chapter in the
leaves now extant being ten, beginning on f. 28r. The text ends on f. 36r,
after descriptions of how to make the elixir and good gold, line 10:]
Explicit Deo gratias | [remainder of f. 36r blank.]
[Elias Cortonensis O.F.M., Lumen luminum, said according to this copy to
have been composed in 1315, an erroneous date, and drawn from Saracen and
Hebrew sources, translated into Latin. Not identified in the literature
consulted, although the text beginning on f. 15v, cited above, resembles TK
1237 (ascribed to Rases) and that concerning the building of a golden palace
by King Rogiel (Rugiel), similar to the passage noted above as occurring on
f. 16v, is noted by TK 336-337.]
f. 36v, 1: [Written as heading:] Afar cresser el savon el dopio et restera |
perfecto et meglior che prima | A far la maistra | Recipe libras io de lissia
forte... [Ends f. 37r, 7; f. 37r, 8:] sophisticum ad album | Recipe libbra
una arsenico Item sal nitrio... [Ends f. 37r, 21; f. 37v, 1:] Acurar uno che
hauesse doglie cataral per | la persona et farlo uenir sano et grasso | Togli
de la siena in erba laqual se trova a le | spicierie ... [Ends line 13:] ti
parera esser bisogno, uederai mirabel cossa | [remainder of the page blank
except for pen trials, scrawls in red chalk, and the inscription, upside down
near the foot of the page in an eighteenth-century hand, "L'ho (?) Joannes
Grilius." Lower pastedown blank except for pencil notes described above in
section on provenance. These miscellaneous recipes are unidentified.]
SUMMARY: The text is a puzzle, elaborately ascribed to Elias of Cortona (ca.
1180-1253), follower of St. Francis, General of his Order, head of the
Order's mission to the Holy Land in 1217 and Provincial of Syria in 1219,
practical head of the Order from 1221 to 1227, elected General in 1232. The
text is not apparently recorded in any form like this, and the date of 1315
given is clearly wrong. But it is possible that the text relates somehow to
the Liber alchimiae in four books, already discussed under MS 7.1, where it
is ascribed to "Helias." But there is no close correspondence discernible.
The association of a cryptic text, elaborately ascribed to a church figure,
with a cipher code, bound up originally in covers prominently displaying a
holy monogram, may combine to suggest a hint of charlatanism and the
intention to deceive a pious but gullible devotee.